


Almost Like Praying

by meggidarling



Series: Our Daughter 'Verse [9]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Kidnapping, M/M, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-27 04:10:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12573392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meggidarling/pseuds/meggidarling
Summary: Mick, Len and Barry were enjoying their last night in Aruba when they got a frantic call from Lisa.\\Mick, Len and Barry learn that Eliza was kidnapped. They react how you'd expect them to//





	Almost Like Praying

Mick, Len and Barry were enjoying their last night in Aruba when they got a frantic call from Lisa.

“Hey Lisa! What’s- Oh my god!” The smile that Barry was wearing when he picked up the phone was gone. His face was now pale and he had his hand covering his mouth, tears welling up in his eyes.

Len frowned. “What’s up, Scarlet? Is everything okay?”

Barry just shook his head and thrusted the phone into Len’s hands. 

“Lisa?” He asked, putting the phone on speaker.

“Lenny! Oh god, Lenny!” Lisa was hysterical. He hadn’t heard this kind of emotion from her since she was a kid. 

“C’mon, Lise. Between you and Barry, you’re scaring me.” Len felt himself growing uneasy.

“Eliza’s school just called. She’s been taken.”

Len dropped the phone in shock.

~*~  
The trio cut their ‘honeymoon’ short and took the next flight to Central City. When they got to their house, almost exactly 12 hours after the call for Lisa, it was filled with heroes and Rogues alike. Hartley was makeup free and resting in Wally’s arms, Jax on his other side. All three of them were shaking and it reminded Mick just how young Wally, Hartley and Jax were. Lisa was standing by the window, bouncing Diana in her arms, tears streaking down her face. Cisco and Caitlin stood behind her, rubbing her back. 

Len, as he did in all serious situations, put up his Captain Cold persona. “What do we know?”

Joe was the first to speak. “A group of about 12 broke into the school and grabbed 7 kids, but CCPD think the other 6 were to distract from their target.”

“Eliza.” Barry whispered, voice rough.

Joe nodded solemnly. “We’re doing everything we can. Obviously, we already called the Legends.” He said motioning to Jax. “The rest of them are on the Waverider, having Gideon look over the timeline. Oliver and Felicity and the rest of Team Arrow are on their way over. I think Lisa or Iris called the Rogues.”

Len nodded firmly. “Thank you, Joe.” He turned to face Mick and Barry. “Can I speak with you two upstairs?”

Once they were in the privacy of their bedroom, Mick’s strong exterior started to crack, but he didn’t cry. “God, this is worse than the museum.”

Barry, surprisingly stoic, rubbed his back. “It’s okay, Mickey. We’ll find her. We have the best heroes in the world on our side”

Len nodded. “We don’t know enough to panic just yet. We have our team on it. These criminals don’t know who they’re messing with.” 

Mick shook his head, as if that would clear his mind, then nodded. “You two are right. Let’s get down there and figure what else they know.”

When they came down the stairs, they could hear the click of Felicity’s heels as she paced around the room, Oliver watching her from his place against the wall.

When she saw the three men, she lunged into Barry’s arms. “Oh my god, are you three okay? Of course not just-“ She stopped talking, choosing instead to pull back and cup Barry’s cheek. Her blue eyes scanned each of their faces, before she gave into her instincts and threw her thin arms around Mick and Len too. 

They both made a noise of surprise, but accepted the hug, as they didn’t want to upset the woman. She looked awful. Her usually neat ponytail was loose and drooping. Her makeup was almost completely gone under her glasses, as if she had been rubbing at her eyes, and he signature pink lipstick was missing.

After she held the three of them for a few moments, she let the men go in favor of pacing, this time with her tablet in her hand as she looked through traffic cam footage. 

After Felicity move away, Oliver took her place, patting Len and Mick on the back, giving them a small nod. Oliver, however, knew that Barry needed another kind of comfort, so he opened his arms, and kept his face relaxed even though Mick and Len could tell he didn’t want to be touched right now. 

Barry lunged into his arms, and let himself cry for the first time since they had gotten the call. “What’s going to happen to our daughter, Ollie?” 

Oliver pet Barry’s hair. “I don’t know, Bear. But what I do know is that Ellie has nearly two dozen super heroes looking for her. That’s two dozen people who won’t stop until she’s found. We’ll get her back, Barry.”

Barry pulled back from the embrace and gave Oliver an appreciative smile. “Thank you, Ollie.”

Oliver nodded. “No problem, Barry. Now let’s get the team together and get Ellie back.” 

It took a little while to get everyone together, but soon enough all of Team Arrow, the Legends, the Rogues and the rest of Team Flash were in the hangar that, just a few days ago, held Barry’s happiest memories.

“Felicity, Curtis. Is there anything anywhere about ransom?” Oliver asked.

Curtis clicked some keys on one of the computer set ups that he and Cisco dragged in from the Cortex and shook his head. “Nothing on the web or on any major television networks.”

Felicity, wearing a similar frown to Curtis, also shock her head. “Nothing on any radio stations nor any calls to CCPD.” 

Joe nodded. “I’ll have Singh set up a direct line to transfer anyone with information to you two.”

Len looked at his Rogues. “Anything on the criminal side of things?”

“Nothing, but the bartenders at Saints are keeping an ear to the group.” Hartley replied, still tangled up in Jax and Wally.

“Same with our insiders with the Families. None of them think it was Mob related.” Lisa added, one hand clutching Cisco’s and the other clutching Caitlin’s.

Mick nodded thoughtfully, then froze. “Does anyone have the footage from the school?”

Barry looked to Cisco, who nodded. After a few clicks, the classroom was projected on the wall. Cisco pressed play. 

All of the people in the room, fearless or not, had to force themselves to watch. The masked people went directly for Eliza before back tracking and taking a few other students and knocking out the teachers. After a few moments of struggling to round up the other kids, the leader seemed to notice the camera. They tapped one of the others on the shoulder and motioned to the camera. The masked man nodded and pointed the gun at the camera. The footage then cut out. 

Barry’s eyes were glued on the image of Eliza the whole time. Like the museum incident, she didn’t look afraid. She did, however, look extremely annoyed. A fact that she appeared to make very clear to the people who were kidnapping her. Though there was no sound, based on Eliza’s sly smirk and slouched body language (that she definitely learned from Len, no child should be able to hold themselves like that), she was giving her captors a snarky earful. 

They watched it one more time before Mick asked Cisco to pause it on the image of the leader. “Look! when she turns her head, right after she tells the other guy to shoot out the camera, her hand goes for mask. Like she was going to take it off.” 

Len looked at the paused image for a minute before he nods. “Are there any other cameras in that room?” He asked Cisco, Felicity and Curtis.

“On it.” Felicity saluted before turning back to tap quickly away on her keyboard. After a few moments, she cheered triumphantly. “Apparently, when the teacher pressed the panic alarm, she also turned on her computer camera. It gives us a different angle and goes on for longer.” She clicks a few times before a grainy video replaces the paused image on the wall. 

The leader does pull her mask off, revealing a somewhat familiar face. “So, you’re the brat that the heroes just can’t seem to bare to lose. I wonder if those heroes in leather will save you now.” The woman grabbed Eliza’s arm and dragged her towards the door, the other men following suit. 

Eliza allowed herself to be pulled, but didn’t go quietly. “Gee lady, why are you so obsessed with me?”

The woman tightened her grip on Eliza’s arm. “Oh girly, you’re too smart for your age. Why don’t we play the quiet game? Unless you want me to start picking off your classmates?” She gestures to the gun on her hip. Eliza squinted at her, but remained quiet. “Good plan, sweetie.” 

And with that, Eliza, her captors and the other kids were out of shot.

Everyone was quiet for a minute, before Barry snapped his fingers. “Amber Daniels! That’s who the leader looks like!”

Cisco’s eyes widened before he turned back to his computer. After a few beats he pulls something else up on the wall. “Amber Daniels is still locked away in the Meta-Human Wing at Iron Heights, but here’s her twin sister Tamara. She, like her sister, has a long rap sheet.” 

“Is she a meta?” Sara asked.

Cisco shrugged. “Unclear, but if she is, her powers probably have something to do with animation. It says here she was getting a tattoo when she was hit by the Accelerator explosion.”

“Amber Daniels was the meta behind the museum incident, wasn’t she?” Laurel asked. “Why would she want Eliza for?”

Barry paled. “I said her name in front of Amber. When I took her from Len and Mick to take her to Iron Heights I said, ‘You go check on the hostages and find Eliza.’” 

Mick grabbed Barry’s hand. “It’s not your fault, Doll. You were worried about Eliza, you weren’t thinking clearly.”

“And look where that got Eliza! Look where me not thinking clearly got out daughter!” Barry screamed, pulling his hand away from Mick’s and flashing off. 

Mick went to go after him, but Oliver stopped him. “I got this. You guys try to find their location.”

Luckily for Oliver, the speedster had only ran outside and not to the other side of the world.

“You know, Barry, you’re not the first parent to feel responsible for their child’s kidnapping.” Oliver said gently, worried he might spook the speedster.

“You don’t have to comfort me, Ollie. I know I fucked up.” He chuckled humorlessly. “What kind of father can’t even keep his kid safe?”

“Maybe. But even if you didn’t say her name, there’s no way to guarantee this wouldn’t happen. It comes with the masks.”

Barry refused to meet Oliver’s eyes. “I guess.”

“I know, Barry. I blamed myself all the times that William got kidnapped and used against me. By Darhk, by Chase. Even when I did everything to keep him separate from me. Does that make me a bad father?”

Barry suddenly met Oliver’s eyes. “Of course not, Ollie! How could you even think that? You’re an incredible father. You’re supportive and kind. William is lucky to have a father like you.”

Oliver shot him a look as if to say. ‘I told you so.’

Barry blushed. “Thank you, Ollie. You always know what to say.”

Oliver gave him a pat on the back. “No problem, buddy. Now, let’s go get you daughter back.”

They walked back into the hangar. Barry walked directly into Len and Mick’s arms, whispering apologies into their kisses. 

Less than an hour later, Curtis had a break through. “I got her!” 

Barry flashed over to him. “Where is she?” 

Curtis pointed at the screen. “There. It’s an old tattoo parlor. From what I can tell, Tamara’s girlfriend owned it before she died. The power was just turned on for the first time in two years.”

Len squinted. “Isn’t a tattoo place a little small to be keeping 7 hostages and all that muscle?”

Curtis shrugged. “It looks like it was a factory that they converted into a tattoo palace. Art on the walls, all that.” 

“If she can aminate things, I think a place covered in art is the last place we want to fight her.” Martin warned. 

“We don’t have a choice, Gray. We need to save Eliza. She’s family.” Jax said firmly, which caused Martin to back down. 

“Suit up. I want everyone who can be on site. Iris, can you man the comms and Curtis’ computer?” Barry asked. 

“Anything, Barry.” Iris said, already plopping herself in Curtis’ newly vacated seat. “I’ll watch Diana too.” She said motioning to the baby resting in the baby seat next to one of the computers.

“Joe, I know you want to help but I need you to go to CCPD and let them know what happening. Maybe get us some back up. Please.” Barry begged when it looked like Joe was going to argue. 

“You got it, Barry.” And with that, Joe rushed to his car. 

“With that settled, let’s get moving.”

~*~  
When the team arrived, it took everything Barry had not to run in blind. He had to remind himself that Eliza could get hurt If any of this went south. He took a deep breath and started to think of a plan. “Curtis, can you use your spheres to see what we’re dealing with?” 

Curtis nodded, throwing the spheres in the air and guiding them inside the abandoned factory. He looked at the video they were recording on his watch. “It looks like they’re holding Eliza and the rest of the hostages in the back. From what I can see that where all the hired muscle is, but I can’t see where Tamara is.”

Len nodded. “So, it’s clear up until the hostages? What kind of weapons are we dealing with?”

Curtis examined the footage a little closer. “It looks like just guns.”

Oliver looked at Barry, Mick and Len. “Are we ready to move in?”

Mick, a fiery look on his face, pulled his gun out of his holster and powered it up. “Let’s get going, Robin Hood.”

With that, the team started to move in. Ray, who was carrying Nate, and Firestorm went to the skies to find another way in. Shawna grabbed Hartley and Lisa and teleported them to the roof, so they could find a window to break in to, Sara, Amaya and Laurel following them. Cisco and Curtis followed them to the roof, but didn’t prepare to go in, instead watched the feed so the team didn’t have to go in blind. Dinah, Wally, Rene and the rest of the Rogues went to either side of the building, hoping to find windows or side entrances. Oliver, Len and Mick, weapons drawn, moved towards the front entrance. Barry flashed over to them.

He put his ear to his comms. “All right team, let’s move in.” 

Oliver kicked open the door, and moved in. He surveyed his surroundings and motioned for Mick, Len and Barry to follow him. The four of them moved to the back of the factory quickly, following the noise of fighting. 

When they turned the corner, they saw their team fighting the criminals. Based on the number of them, Tamara called in more, moving the number from 12 to 25.

“Peek-a-boo! Can you start getting the hostages out of here?” Len all but ordered.

Shawna nodded, put her hands on the two kids closest to her and disappeared. 

“Where’s Eliza?” Barry asked.

“She’s been moved from the rest of the hostages. She’s with Tamara but I can’t figure out where.” Cisco replied over the comms.

As soon as they came in, Len and Mick became the clear targets of the captors. Six of them swarmed the two men and even with their guns and their skills, they were quickly becoming overwhelmed. Barry growled and ran into the fight.

He ran to the tallest opponents and swept his knees, causing him to fall. Barry knocked him out and moved to the next opponent. This one Barry pulled off Len and threw him across the room to Lisa, who charged up her Gold Gun and pointed it at the man’s head.

“Well, hello there.” Lisa purred. “Now, where’s Eliza and your boss?”

The man spit at her feet “Go to hell.”

Lisa tsked and shook her head. “Well, that not what I asked for.” She moved the gun’s aim to his foot and shot him. He cried out it pain. “Are you going to answer my question or am I going to have to ask again?” She aimed again, this time at his heart.

“Tamara is upstairs somewhere. She didn’t tell any of us where. Please don’t shoot!” The man yelled. 

Lisa thought for moment before she hit the man with the butt of her gun, knocking him out. “Did you hear that, Captain?”

Len threw off the last two men and froze them to the ground. “I did. Heatwave, Flash, Drake. With me. The rest of you join us when you take out the rest of the trash.”

Dinah let out at scream, sending the woman she was fighting flying across the room. “On it, Cold.” 

The four of them moved out of the large room and down the hallway. Eventually, they found a staircase, which they climbed up. They paused at the top and peaked around the corner Len pressed a finger to his lips, alerting them to listen.

From their place peeking around the corner, Mick, Len, Barry and Dinah could see Eliza. She was tied to a chair but otherwise unharmed. Tamara was pacing in front of her He hair was dyed a patchy red and her clothes looked worse for wear. 

“Hey, Miss! I have to go potty!” Eliza whined.

“Why don’t you shut your mouth, kid. God, you’re dumber than your fathers.” Tamara snarked back, running her hand threw her hair. 

“Well, that not very nice.” Eliza huffed. “My daddies are very smart. They outsmarted you.” 

Tamara turned to face the little girl, eye wild. “What do you mean, pet? There’s no one here to save you.”

Eliza giggled and looked over Tamara’s shoulder. “I think you should maybe check again, pet.”

Tamara flung herself around, only to be hit by the butt of Mick’s gun. She stumbled backwards with a screech, hands flying to grab her nose.

“Hello, Tamara. I heard you were looking for us.” Len said, freezing her feet to the ground. “Flash, get Eliza out of here! We’ll take care of this one.”

Barry nodded, before flashing over to Eliza, untying her and speeding her to the rest of the hostages. Joe had arrived with a team from CCPD. Barry plopped her in Joe’s arms then sped back his husbands’ side. 

“Scarlet, you have to go grab meta-human cuffs! She’s trying to use her powers and Drake can’t scream at her forever!”

As if on cue, Dinah was knocked down, which gave Tamara the chance to use her powers. She ripped off her jacket to reveal her tattoos, each of which were glowing. One by one, the tattoos appeared in the real world.

“Of course! She had to have a tattoo of a dragon and a gun! She couldn’t have had a teddy bear or something!” Mick growled, aiming his gun at the dragon. 

“We need all hands-on deck up here! Piper, do you have some meta-human cuffs?” Barry said, zipping around the bullets Tamara was firing at him.

“Here we come!” Hartley responded. 

Barry continued to dodge bullets, but got distracted when he heard Mick roar out in pain. He turned to his lover, his back to Tamara for a moment. The next thing he knew, he was flat on his back, a bullet in his side, a few bruises on his face and a gun aimed at his head.

“Oh, Flash, I wonder if your super healing will help you when you have a bullet in the brain.” Tamara taunted, fiddling with the trigger. “Maybe without you in the way, your Icy Hot buddies will understand what it’s like to lose their best friend.”

“So, this is about your sister?” Barry groaned out, pain from the bullet was getting unbearable.

“Of course, it’s about my sister, you idiot!” Tamara shrieked, hitting him with the butt of the gun before aiming back at his head. “You took her away from me!”

“Tamara, you don’t want to hurt him.” Len said, his voice surprisingly calm. 

Tamara chuckled. “You don’t know what I want! I want everyone to burn-” 

Tamara was cut off by one of Dinah’s sonic blasts sending her flying. However, it also hit Barry, sending him crashing against the wall, too. Barry wailed in pain when he felt his bones crack and the bullet shift before he passed out.

“Flash!” Hartley rushed over to Tamara and slapped the cuffs on her, which caused the dragon that Oliver, Ray and Laurel were fighting to disappear. He then ran over to Barry. “Kid Flash! He needs to get to STAR Labs, now! He’s not breathing?”

Wally flashed over and scooped up his foster brother before taking off. 

Len and Mick were in a haze when they moved out of the factory and let the CCPD move in, the rest of their teams on their tail. 

“Daddy! Da!” Eliza screech, flying towards them. “I knew you was gonna come and save me. I knew it!”

Mick scooped her up and put her on his hip. “Always, Little Spark. Your Daddy, Papa and I will always save you.” 

Eliza gave him another tight hug before she looked around. “Where is Papa?” Len let out a pained noise, which scared Eliza even more. “Daddy? Da? Where’s my Papa!?”

“He’s already back at the Labs, baby. He got hurt really bad.” Len finally said, after he decided that telling her the truth was their best plan. 

“We gotta go help him, Daddy! Please!” There were tears in Eliza’s eyes. 

“We’re headed there now, baby. Don’t worry.” Mick assured, before looking at the rest of the team. “Let’s move out. Back to STAR Labs.”

~*~

When they all returned to STAR, Iris and Felicity were pacing in the Cortex, tears streaming their faces. Wally was sitting quietly in the corner, Diana in his arms and his own eyes slightly misty. However, when they saw Eliza come in, they all wiped their tears and plastered on large, fake smiles. 

“Where’s Scarlet?” Mick said, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible. 

Iris’ smile faltered slightly. “He’s in the medbay with Caitlin.”

Len nodded. “Eliza, sweetie. Why don’t you stay with your aunts and uncles for a little while? Me and your Da are going to find your Papa.

Eliza looked like she wanted to argue, but recognized the look of fear on her fathers’ faces and decided against it. “Okay, Daddy.” She ran to Oliver, who picked her up.

With a nod, Mick and Len nearly ran to the medbay and what they saw nearly broke their heart. Caitlin was a flurry of movement around a broken looking Barry. Their husband was pale and bruised, bandaged around his rib, bloody where the bullet was. Caitlin was in the process of making Barry a makeshift cast for his arm when she noticed them.

“It looked a lot worst that it was. He’s come back for a lot more than this.” She said, shooting them a reassuring smile, before finishing up the casts and leaving the men alone with their unconscious husband. 

After a few minutes, Barry’s bruises healed enough that Mick and Len thought it would be okay for Wally to bring in Eliza. Diana stayed with Iris, as she was already down for the night. Eliza was silent when she came in, scared to touch Barry, who was still unconscious, Instead, she curled up in Len’s lap. It took nearly an hour for Barry to walk up.

“Ugh.” Barry groaned and then swore under his breath when he tried to move his arm. “What happened?”

“You got shot and Dinah accidently Canary Called you into a wall.” Mick replied, fluffing Barry’s pillow so he would stop moving.

“You gave Daddy and Da a frighten, Papa.” Eliza said sleepily. 

Barry gave her a small smile. “I’m sorry, Ellie Jo. Why don’t you go back to sleep, and we’ll talk more in the morning?”

Eliza tucker herself back into the crook of Len’s neck. “Okay, Papa.”

“Everyone else is okay?” Barry asked, leaning back into the pillows.

“Everyone is completely safe, Scarlet.” Len replied, petting Eliza’s hair. “Especially our daughters.”

“Hm, awesome.” Barry closed his eyes. “I’m just going to go back to sleep now…” Barry was out again before he could even finish his sentence.

Mick pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Sleep well, Doll.”

**Author's Note:**

> Title from 'Almost Like Praying' by Lin-Manuel Miranda. If you haven't heard it, I really recommend it. All proceeds go to Hurricane Relief in Puerto Rico.  
> Thanks Kala for all the help!   
> I hope to have something Halloween themed out within the next few days.


End file.
